by Faith Central & Steve Welsh
“Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post. He said to him, ‘Follow Me.’ And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed Him. … Jesus said … ‘Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.'”
Catholic TV Mass for Friday after Ash Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2018, from Catholic TV in the Archdiocese of Boston. [Click here for Mass Readings]
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“Lent summons us, and enables us, to come back to the Lord wholeheartedly and in every aspect of our life.”
Catholic TV Mass for the Friday After Ash Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2018, from Loretto Abbey in the Archdiocese of Toronto. [Click here for Mass Readings]
[featured image adapted from image at Creative Commons Wikimedia Commons Pjposullivan, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Loretto_Abbey_chapel_interior,_Toronto.JPG, with additional conditions stated at that link and in the alt-tag here]
“… ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My Sake will save it. What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?'”
“… although any time is suitable for the exercise of the virtue of charity, it is more especially urged on us by this present season. … those who long to receive the Lord’s Pasch with bodies and souls made holy must strive earnestly to acquire this grace which includes the sum of all virtues and ‘covers a multitude of sins’ (1Pt 4:8). … as we are about to celebrate that most eminent of all mysteries, in which the Blood of Jesus Christ wiped away all our sins, let us first of all prepare to offer the sacrifice of mercy so that, what we have been given by the Mercy of God, we ourselves may show to those who have sinned against us. May wrongs be cast into oblivion, sins not draw down punishment, and may all those who have trespassed against us no longer fear to be repaid in kind ….”
Catholic TV Mass for Ash Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2018, from Catholic TV in the Archdiocese of Boston. [Click here for Mass Readings]
[featured image is file photo]
“Even now, says the LORD,
return to Me with your whole heart,
with fasting, and weeping, and mourning;
Rend your hearts, not your garments,
and return to the LORD, your God.
For gracious and merciful is He,
slow to anger, rich in kindness,
and relenting in punishment. …”
The Archdiocese of Chicago issued a statement noting that Ash Wednesday 2018 falls on February 14, a day on which many persons still celebrate Saint Valentine’s Day, but declared that no dispensation would be granted from the requirements of fasting and abstinence from meat.
“In view of the significance of Ash Wednesday the obligation of fast and abstinence must naturally be the priority in the Catholic community.”
The statement highlighted the significance of Ash Wednesday as the solemn beginning of Lent as a season of prayer and penance:
“Catholics throughout the world recognize Ash Wednesday as the solemn beginning of a period of prayerful reflection and penance, as is evident by the large number of church goers on this day.”
Even though Saint Valentine has reportedly been removed from the Church calendar, it is, perhaps, surprising, that the Archdiocese of Chicago would surrender to its secularization, failing to use the word “Saint” and referencing so-called “Valentine’s Day” as “largely secular.”
“This year, the largely secular celebration of Valentine’s Day (February 14) coincides with Ash Wednesday ….”
The Archdiocese of Chicago suggested moving the celebration of so-called “Valentine’s Day” to Mardi Gras, the day before:
“Valentine’s Day can appropriately be celebrated the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday which also happens to be Mardi Gras, a traditionally festive time before beginning our Lenten observance.”
This latter point also is, admittedly, rather curious. One the one hand, there are festive aspects to marriage and courtship, as evidenced, for example, by the festive nature of wedding receptions and weddings being marked as occasions for great celebration. And the festive aspects of celebrating marriage and courtship could, indeed, dovetail with Mardi Gras, provided that a Mardi Gras celebration is appropriate to being with, e.g., that one does not attend a parade featuring immodest dress, for example.
However, the coinciding of the Saint Valentine’s Day calendar date with Ash Wednesday also should rightly provide an opportunity to remind the Faithful, and the general public, of the sacred, prayerful and holy aspects of proper courtship and authentic marriage. Proper courtship is that which is holy and chaste and involves a prayerful discernment of marriage. And authentic marriage is Holy Matrimony, a Holy Sacrament and holy religious Vocation grounded on Faith-based commitment and sacrifice. There definitely are Lenten themes that do, in fact, fit well with proper courtship and marriage.
For example, one interesting story of a couple who got engaged, provided by a Homilist, involved a young man washing his young lady’s feet as part of a marriage proposal, seeking to emulate Jesus washing the feet of the Apostles at the Last Supper on Holy Thursday. So to simply “write off” a dissociation of Ash Wednesday from appropriate courtship and marriage is, arguably, missing an opportunity.
Jesus enjoined them, ‘Watch out, guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.’ …”